~ Adventures with the Peace Corps

Small Project Assistance (SPA) Grant – first step of implementation!

Awhile back, I mentioned that I spent most of my free time in September dreaming, planning and writing a SPA grant with my counterpart. Well, guess what? WE GOT IT!

The grand plan is to host two professional development seminars (1) Project Development & Management and (2) Fundraising, for teachers at my school, students in our student council and active community members. To facilitate the use and further development of these new skills, we will build a resource center in our school that can be used by all community member/teachers/students for miscellaneous projects. To guarantee the sustainability of our resource center and use of our new skill set, all seminar participants will help develop an annual city wide fundraising event in late spring. The groups that participate in this event who raise the most money, will be able to use all the money raised in a way of their choosing.

Our project team was awarded ~ $5000 for this project from USAID. You can read more about the grant opportunity HERE. You can also read our fully funded proposal HERE.

On February 26, 2013 our project team successfully hosted our first seminar on Project Development & Management (PDM). In attendance were two administrators of School Number One, four student representatives, one member of Romny’s Center for Handicapped Children, one member of Romny’s Orphanage, and twenty teachers of Romny’s School Number One.

The whole PDM group!

We had two trainers, each from the Lugansk Center of Postgraduate Education located ~20hour train ride to the east of Ukraine. The main trainer was a professional methodist who executed the training the Russian Language. Her assistant was a Community Development Peace Corps Volunteer who has extensive experience in business and strategic planning.

One group and their project

The seminar started with a bunch of wide eyed participants completely overwhelmed with the PDM theory upchucked in their laps. Myself, I was worried we started our project with the wrong seminar, that it was too abstract or theory based for the concept to be introduced in our first round. However, about 45 minutes into the seminar, the practical application began. We divided the participants into 5 groups who were each responsible for creating their own project ideas, goals, SWOT analysis, and objectives. At this stage, all the smiles came out. Great ideas flew around the room and each participant seemed to enjoy being there.

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In the end, our project team considered the day a success. We gave ourselves big pats on the back and turned our eyes towards the next step of our grant implementation…building the resource center.

Congrats on your SPA award Katherine. Some time ago you expressed the need to find funding for a community based initiative which would be fully implemented before your service is completed. What is also impressive is the fact that you have developed a strategy which will allow the community to leverage this grant and the community will secure the long-term sustainability for this project. Legacy projects such as yours will certainly buttress the development and growth of additional funding in the future. I must say your thought processes are thorough, concise, and very well articulated. Your ablities are highly appreciated now and in high demand when the time is right throughout your life. Are rare skill you possess Katherine!

Ukrainian National Anthem

Ukraine is not yet dead, nor its glory and freedom,
Luck will still smile on us brother-Ukrainians.
Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine,
and we, too, brothers, we'll live happily in our land.
We'll not spare either our souls or bodies to get freedom
and we'll prove that we brothers are of Kozak kin.
We'll rise up, brothers, all of us, from the Sain to the Don,
We won't let anyone govern in out motherland.
The Black Sea will smile yet, grandfather Dnipro will rejoice,
Yet in our Ukraine luck will be high.
Our persistence, our sincere toil will prove its rightness,
still our freedom's loud song will spread throughout Ukraine.
It'll reflect upon the Carpathians, will sound through the steppes,
and Ukraine's glory will arise among the people.